1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to navigation apparatuses, and more particularly relates to a navigation apparatus which collects characteristic information (for example, product information, price, maker, and sales information, shop position information, and the like) on products and services (hereinafter referred to as the product and the like), based on this collected characteristic information, searches for the optimum product and the like, automatically determines the position of the provider of the product and the like based on the searched characteristic information, and guides a user from his/her current position to the position of the provider.
2. Description of the Related Art
Navigation apparatuses instruct GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers to receive position information transmitted from satellites and the like, to find the current positions of vehicles based on the transmitted position information, and to display maps indicating the current positions of vehicles on monitor units. In addition, routes to destinations are searched and are displayed so that users can be guided. Thus, navigation apparatuses have been widely used to accurately guide vehicles to their destinations.
Navigation apparatuses basically operate in the above-described manner. Some navigation apparatuses are provided with the following features in order to further increase their convenience.
(1) Other than map information, various information, required for search and guiding, such as the locations of and the routes to shops is stored in a memory medium, and the monitor unit displays the information along with the map thereon.
(2) A cellular phone is connected thereto or incorporated therein, and certain information can be obtained and displayed by accessing the Internet via this cellular phone.
(3) As disclosed in the navigation system in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-134602, a dedicated CD-ROM is loaded into the navigation system and a search operation is performed, whereby an information transmission-side apparatus separately disposed is contacted. Thereafter business data such as the current sales situation, business hours, and price data of services (such as gas stations) for which the information transmission-side apparatus is responsible is shown along with the map displayed on the navigation system so that the optimal service provider can be selected.
(4) As disclosed in the information exchange system in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-167695, since service information on the service providers such as gas stations, restaurants, and shops along the route is provided by making use of VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) that primarily transmits traffic information from the street side to the vehicle side, necessary information is selected from information transmitted in accordance with specific conditions (the type of provider or the degree of detail of provided information) set by a driver or a fellow passenger and is provided to the driver or the like.
(5) As disclosed in the navigation system in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-325923, a transmitter station, which is provided in a shop, and whose wave coverage area is predetermined (for example, a radius of a few kilometers to a few tens of kilometers), transmits specific information on the location, an advertisement, and the like of the shop by FM (Frequency Modulation) waves. When a receiver, mounted in the navigation system in the vehicle which enters the coverage area, receives the FM waves, the transmitter station location and advertisement information on the shop (the product information advertisement), and the like are displayed on the monitor unit along with the route of the shortest distance to the shop.
However, these conventional navigation systems have the following problems.
In the navigation system (1), the size of the memory medium limits the amount of information that can be stored in the memory medium and the information stored in the memory medium may be outdated.
In the navigation system (2), with the use of the cellular phone problems related to specification of a telephone number, time required for retrieving information, and cost may arise.
In the navigation system (3), loading the dedicated CD-ROM and the like make the operation relatively complicated. In addition, since only sales data is shown on the map, the user must set the route to the service provider to the navigation system in accordance with the shown sales data.
Since the information exchange system (4) is independent from the navigation system, even though the service provider is determined, this information exchange system offers no service to the navigation system concerning the route to the determined service provider.
In the navigation system (5), since, when the user""s vehicle enters the wave coverage area of the shop, information is provided in a one-way manner from the shop to the user, the desired information is not always available.
Accordingly, the present invention is made to solve the foregoing problems of the conventional arts. A first object of the present invention is to achieve favorable purchases, when a product and the like are needed during driving, by obtaining characteristic information on products, such as price information and sales information for a region covering the current location, and by then selecting the optimal product and the like based on the information obtained while safely guiding the user to the provider for the selected product and the like, thereby eliminating the necessity of performing route setting during driving. A second object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system which can perform information retrieval on its own. A third object of a present invention is to provide the navigation system which can store necessary information therein regardless of the amount of built-in memory.
To this end, there is provided a navigation apparatus for measuring the position of a vehicle based on position information and performing route guiding based on map information. This navigation apparatus includes an inputting unit for inputting specific information on a product or the like and selection conditions for the product or the like, a transmitting unit for transmitting the input specific information to an external storage unit in which characteristic information on the product or the like is stored, a receiving unit for receiving the characteristic information which is transmitted from the external storage unit, a retrieving unit for retrieving optimal characteristic information matching the selection conditions from the received characteristic information, a displaying unit for displaying the retrieved characteristic information, and a guiding unit for automatically setting the position of a provider for the product or the like based on the retrieved characteristic information and performing route guiding to the position of the provider.
A navigation apparatus may further include a storage unit for storing the received characteristic information.
A navigation apparatus may further include a storage unit for storing the selection conditions for the product or the like.
The transmitting unit may transmit the selection conditions for the product or the like to the external storage unit.
The selection conditions for the product or the like may include at least type and price of the product or the like.
Route guiding to the position of the provider may be performed using route display and/or speech.
According to the present invention, the following advantages can be obtained.
Since information retrieval and destination setting can be automatically performed, a user does not have to retrieve information and the like in advance. Since setting information can be stored, there is no need to re-input. In addition, since information on necessary products and the like can be retrieved from a database in a fixed station, retrieved information can be stored and used repeatedly.
In particular, for example, even when gasoline has to be supplied during driving in a strange place, the user can be guided to the gas station in which the best gasoline under desired conditions of the user is available.
Unlike a conventional case which forces the user to examine the prices and the like during driving, the navigation apparatus according to the present invention does not spoil his or her attention during driving. In addition, unlike a conventional case which employs the Internet, the navigation apparatus according to the present invention does not spoil his or her attention because of its usability.
Since the navigation apparatus according to the present invention does not require anything else, there is no need to waste unnecessary electric power, papers and the like.
Since the navigation apparatus according to the present invention can write information directly to the database in the fixed station, necessary information can be stored without adversely impacting the capacity storage of the navigation apparatus side.